PAC head accused of ‘wholly untrue’ claims about public services card

The head of the Public Accounts Committee, Seán Fleming, has been accused of making “wholly untrue” comments about the public services card, it has emerged.

Chief executive of Irish Rail Jim Meade has asked Mr Fleming to correct the record of the PAC after comments made by Mr Fleming about the purported use of the public services card for those with free travel entitlements.

The letter, sent last week, refers to a meeting of the PAC on September 26th which the Data Protection Commissioner attended.

“During the course of proceedings, you referred to a case in which a constituent who had previously been entitled to a carer’s pass, but whose entitlement to this had ceased, had been fined €1,048 by Iarnród Éireann.

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“In outlining details of the case, you stated ‘Iarnród Éireann used the public services card to collect information on the number of rail trips the person made’. This statement is wholly untrue.”

Scanning of card

Mr Meade says when a member of Irish Rail’s revenue protection team meets a customer with a public services card who has been issued with a ticket under the Free Travel Scheme, they scan the card to ensure the person has a valid travel entitlement. If the entitlement has ceased, a notification will alert the revenue officer who will confirm this with the Department of Social Protection before issuing a fixed penalty notice.

Irish Rail then asks the department for confirmation of when the free travel entitlement ceased and clarification on whether the customer was notified if their entitlement had been withdrawn.

In relation to the case referenced by Mr Fleming, Mr Meade said Irish Rail calculated the fixed-charge penalty first based on the price of four monthly tickets from the date the person’s entitlement ceased to the date of the penalty.

“We do not use the public services card to collect information in relation to the number of journeys the person made on the train. We have no access to this information. We have no knowledge of the individual journeys made, nor have we ever sought, received or required information on individual journeys made with PSC.

Dates of travel

“I would be grateful if you could correct the incorrect statement made at the Public Accounts Committee on September 26th at the earliest opportunity,” Mr Meade wrote.

At that committee hearing, Mr Fleming said he “met a person who is a carer and had the travel pass as part of the social welfare card, which they could present to Iarnród Éireann to travel to and from Dublin or as the case may be.

“A point came when this person was no longer a carer and was, by right, no longer entitled to use the card. The card still worked for free travel, however. Four or five months later, the person got a bill from Iarnród Éireann for €1,048 along with a list of all of the dates on which the card had been used since the point at which, in Iarnród Éireann’s opinion, the person was no longer deemed to be a carer.

“Iarnród Éireann used the public services card to collect information on the number of rail trips the person made.”

Data Protection Commissioner Helen Dixon, who was present for a hearing about the public services card, said she would be “very interested” in looking at the case.